Century Aluminum’s proposed USD 4 billion primary aluminum smelter in Inola, Oklahoma, is “moving forward on all fronts” as the company prepares for construction, despite local opposition and legal challenges, CEO Jesse Gary said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. Developed jointly by Century Aluminum and Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), the project is designed to produce 750,000 tonnes of primary aluminum annually, potentially doubling U.S. primary aluminum production. The facility is expected to create thousands of direct and indirect jobs and add USD 1.5 billion to Oklahoma’s gross domestic product, according to company estimates. The partners had targeted construction to begin by the end of 2026. However, local restrictions and permitting challenges have affected the...
LME aluminium stocks declined by more than half during the first nine months of 2026, falling by 267,875 tonnes from 509,250 tonnes on January 2 to 241,375 tonnes on September 30 (52.6 per cent). The decline continued throughout the period, with average warehouse inventories falling each month. Compared with the same period in 2025, monthly average stocks were lower across all nine months, with the gap widening in the third quarter. Q1 LME aluminium stocks fall 18.2 per cent LME aluminium inventories continued to decline during Q1 2026. Month-end stocks fell from 495,725 tonnes in January to 465,550 tonnes in February, before dropping further to 416,775 tonnes in March. Monthly average inventories stood at 498,670 tonnes in January, 481,801 tonnes in February and 440,710 tonnes in March....
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Standard & Poor’s negative outlook for the European Union and investors’ pessimism towards the euro zone debt crisis further weakened the euro against the US dollar, with the US dollar index strengthening again. As such, LME aluminum closed USD 30/mt lower at USD 2,080/mt overnight. Positions for the metal surged 10,013 lots to 1,001,836 lots, a record high. The LME aluminum stock also maintained high at 4,549,000 mt after losing 800 mt. Given mounting pressure from the shorts side, LME aluminum is not likely to rebound in the short term. And as the news side remains slightly negative, SMM expects LME aluminum to fluctuate between USD 2,045-2,095/mt, the most active SHFE aluminum contract between RMB 16,090-16,210/mt and spot aluminum between RMB 16,120-16,160/mt during today’s trading.
Indian aluminium majors are hopeful that the price of the metal on the London Metal Exchange (LME) may rise in the coming weeks as Euro zone leaders gear up to align their positions on centralised control of the euro zone budgets to fire-fight the debt crisis. After being on a steady decline for around the previous six months, aluminium prices gained $120 a tonne in the last three days in the wake of some positive signals from the euro zone. “The price of the metal tumbled from $2,700 a tonne in mid-April to below $2,000 in the October-November period. If there is no fresh crisis, we see the metal price on the LME being on a recovery phase,” Mr B.L. Bagra, NALCO's Chairman and Managing Director, told newspersons on the sidelines of the International Conference on Aluminium, here. Sharing...
The Government is in the advanced stages of finalising a ‘Mission Plan' for aluminium to enhance per capita consumption of the metal in India and facilitate better exploitation of bauxite and coal resources. Mr Vishwapati Trivedi, Secretary, Ministry of Mines, said the Mission Plan, when finalised, will also help the Government evolve a national policy for well planned growth of the Indian aluminium sector. “The plan will not only be relevant for the aluminium industry but strategic planning of the metal industry as a whole will revolve round it in the coming decades,” he said while inaugurating the Sixth International Conference on Aluminium (INCAL), here on Tuesday. He said the Department of Science and Technology is actively involved with the Aluminium Association of India (AAI) to...
Issues concerning allocation of coal blocks and environmental clearances may pose a threat to achieve the expected production levels of aluminium in the 12th plan, a senior official of the Ministry of Mines said. G Srinivas, Joint Secretary of Ministry of Mines said, the current production of aluminium stands at 3.6 million tons per annum and is expected to reach 4.7 million tons by the end of 12th plan. "If you see the performance of the sector in the 11th plan, no new Greenfield project has been put in place. That is the real cause of concern," Srinivas said during his address at Incal-2011. "All the existing players are not able to start new plants. They are stuck up with environmental clearances or licenses and also stuck up at various stages with various problems. If we don't...
The sixth international expo on aluminium in this Deccan city which began on Tuesday will explore investment opportunities and technology to boost consumption by foraying into new growth sectors, an industry expert said. "The three-day, Dec 6-8, summit is to attract investments and facilitate technology transfers for increasing use of the light metal in diverse sectors, including transportation, packaging and infrastructure," Aluminium Association of India (AAI) general secretary K.S.S. Murthy told IANS on the eve of the three-day convention. Organised by the AAI in partnership with its overseas associations, the quadrennial conference-cum-exhibition (INCAL 2011) at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC) on the city's outskirts showcases latest technologies and advancements...
Vedanta Aluminium, an associate company of the globally-diversified metals and mining group Vedanta Resources PLC, hopes to complete its ambitious Rs 60,000 crore smelting capacity expansion project by the next fiscal, a top official said here today. The smelting capacity will be raised to 2.5 million tonne per annum, from around 1.6 million tonnes at present, Managing Director of Vedanta Aluminium S K Roongta said. "We are already through with spending 75% of the total investment (Rs 60,000 crore) outlay for the expansion. "We hope to complete all the pending works soon and enhance smelting capacity to 2.5 million tonnes per annum by next fiscal (2012-13)," Roongta told reporters on the sidelines of the 6th International Conference on Aluminium (INCAL) which began here. Apart from...
The Aditya Birla Group’s Hindalco Industries will be making an additional investment, equal to the $5-billion (Rs 25,700 crore) capex under way, to more than double its aluminium production capacity by 2016, D Bhattacharya, managing director, said here on Tuesday. He said the pace of the expansion would largely depend on early clearances for captive coal blocks, as smelter projects are not viable without captive power. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the sixth international conference and exhibition on aluminium (INCAL 2011), organised by the Aluminium Association of India for which he is the honorary president, Bhattacharya said Hindalco’s new 360,000-tonne project would start production in the next three to five weeks. The company is still awaiting forest clearances for the...
Back in October, we commented that investors were helping to drive aluminium prices lower by reducing their exposure to commodities in general, due to negative sentiment regarding the global economic outlook. Deteriorating market fundamentals in October justified the negative investor outlook. Demand weakened, evidenced by another decline in Net New Orders for Mill Products in October. At the same time, IAI production for October posted its largest monthly volume for 2011. Although IAI producer inventories were at their lowest levels for 2011 in October, there is still more than 4.5Mt of primary aluminum in LME warehouses. When prices reached $2000/t, we did not believe these levels would be sustainable for long, and recent upward price movements have confirmed this belief. Prices quickly...
Emirates Aluminium (Emal) has produced its one millionth tonne of hot metal. The Al Taweelah, UAE smelter achieved the landmark figure in November, less than two years after it was commissioned in December 2009. Average daily metal production since 2009 has been 1400t/day. Current production stands at 2035t/day, strongly positioning Emal to meet the projected increase in global aluminium demand. Emal reported no lost time injuries on its reduction potlines in 2011; equivalent to five million man hours. Its reduction potlines also operated without a single pot failure.
LME aluminum was pressured at the 30-day moving average during initial trading hours as Standard & Poor’s downgrade warning for euro zone countries weighed on metals. The market sentiment slight improved later after German manufacturing data came out better-than-expected, which helped LME aluminum quickly rebound after dropping below the RMB 2,100/mt mark. The metal finally closed 0.8% lower USD 2,110/mt. The latest LME aluminum positions rose 9,799 lots to 991,823 lots. The latest LME aluminum stock decreased 275 mt to 4,549,800 mt. As the wait-and-see sentiment strengthened among investors, aluminum is expected to remain weak. As such, SMM expects LME aluminum to struggle at the 20-day moving average and fluctuate between USD 2,075-2,120/mt. The most active SHFE three-month aluminum...
JSW Steel has ordered a continuous slab caster from Siemens VAI. JSW Steel will use the caster at its Toranagallu, Karnataka State, India steelworks. As with caster no. 3, also supplied by Siemens, the casting plant will be equipped with DynaGap Soft Reduction. This solution enables the taper and thickness to be controlled automatically at every point of the strand guiding system to create the basic conditions for high internal slab quality. The continuous slab caster will have a production capacity of 1.4Mt/y and is to be commissioned in the middle of 2013. Caster no. 4 will be able to cast slabs with thicknesses between 220 and 260mm, and widths between 800 and 1600mm. It will produce carbon steel, micro and low-alloy, as well as HSLA (high-strength low-alloy) steels, which will be...
In spite of low primary metal prices, rising power costs, reports that a significant proportion of China’s smelting capacity is losing money at current prices, and widespread predictions of smelter closures, two Reuters reports suggest Chinese smelting capacity is set to almost double over the next five years. The first report quotes a senior analyst at state-backed research firm Antaike, who said the rate of smelter construction is powering ahead at such a breakneck pace that China faces a surplus of 250,000 tons of primary aluminum next year. China’s aluminum production may rise 12 percent on the year to 21.95 million tons next year, above the 11.3 percent growth rate forecast for 2011 and the year’s 19.6 million-metric-ton production, Yao Xizhi is quoted as telling an industry...
LME aluminum rebounded from below USD 2,100/mt overnight after Italy approved its new austerity plan and France and Germany proposed adjustment for the EU treaty so that an effective bailout plan can be reached during the EU summit this weekend. The rebound met pressure from weak US manufacturing data and factory orders, however, with the metal finally closing USD 1.5/mt or 0.07% lower at USD 2,127/mt. Total positions increased 1,927 lots to 982,024 lots and the latest LME aluminum stock decreased 4,900 mt to 4,550,075 mt. Worries towards the European debt crisis will continue to weigh on global markets after Standard & Poor’s warned downgrades for AAA rated euro zone states. As such, SMM expects LME aluminum to struggle near the 30-day moving average and fluctuate between USD...
The COM 2012 deadline for abstracts has changed. The deadline to submit abstracts for the 51st Conference of Metallurgists has moved to January 31st, 2012. It is seeking abstracts for various papers on Pressure Hydrometallurgy, Corrosion, Rare Earths, Pyrometallurgy, Sustainability and more.
The decision to shut down the electrolytic production process at Bogoslov Aluminum Plant in the Sverdlovsk region could be seen as the beginning of the end for UC RUSAL. The company is mired in debt, its revenues and operating margin are declining, and the financial statements of its biggest companies have been labeled as classified. Challenging times await the co-owner of this aluminum empire, Oleg Deripaska. The company's financial statements indicate that things are not going well. Analysts from Veles Capital emphasize that UC RUSAL's net profit for the first nine months of 2011 (according to IFRS) decreased by 14.7% - which amounts to as much as $1.2 billion. The company's operating profit decreased by 8% in the third quarter - which comes to as much as $555 million, and revenue fell...
Norsk Hydro, one of the world’s top aluminum producers, sees growth in global aluminum demand weakening in 2012 as a result of economic turbulence that is creating a weak market and pushing many industry players into the red, reports Mineweb. The Norwegian miner’s stocks dropped 2.9 percent after the prediction. However, Hydro’s President and CEO Svein Richard Brandtzæg showed confidence, as stated in a press release: “The long-term prospects of aluminum remain very promising despite the current economic turbulence, and I am highly encouraged by the strong development of Hydro’s operational performance.” “In Europe, the uncertainty relating to the sovereign debt crisis has impacted our customers,” Brandtzæg added. “It may take some time before we can see improvement inEurope.” The...
Term aluminum premium talks between Australian suppliers and Japanese buyers are not making progress, with Rio Tinto and BHP seeking a $114-115 per tonne premium and Japanese buyers aiming for a level below $110, down from $118 in the fourth quarter, mills and traders said. Settlement for the January-March quarter premium will likely be delayed into the middle of this month due to the wide price gap, they said. Japan is the world's biggest aluminum importer, with domestic consumption of 2 million tonnes per year, equivalent to about 5 percent of global demand. "We haven't tabled a counter offer since we received the first offer from suppliers of around $114-$115 late last month. We aim for a premium below $110," an official at an aluminum mill said. Suppliers are bullish on the back of a...
Aluminum does not have “significant room for further downside” amid potential closures among Chinese producers as falling prices may trigger output cuts, according to Goldman Sachs Group. “Although we have not seen many price-related cuts in capacity as yet, we believe that if prices continue to trade around their present levels, in China we will see closures over the coming 1-2 months,” Goldman said in an e-mailed report dated today. Still, overcapacity, especially in China, will cap any rally prompting a downward revision of the 12-month forecast to $2,400 a ton from $2,650 a ton, Goldman said. The three-month and six-month targets were kept at $2,300 and $2,400, respectively, it said.
